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PANELISTS AGREED THAT BOARDS RUN THE RISK OF MISSING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IF THEY ARE SO RISK-AVERSE THAT THEY SPEND ALL THEIR TIME ON GOVERNANCE. Wash ington University in Washing - ton, D.C.; the University of Michi - gan in Ann Arbor; the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; Cor - nell University in Ithaca, New York; and Wake Forest University-Babcock in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A complete list of ranked schools can be found at www.BeyondGrey Pinstripes.org. In addition to rating leading MBA programs, Beyond Grey Pinstripes identifies Faculty Pioneers who are leading the way in incorporating social and environmental issues into their teaching and research. This year, the six 2005 Faculty Pioneers are: Richard Locke of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cam - bridge; Sandra Waddock of Boston College; Kellie McElhaney of the University of California in Berkeley; Luis Felipe of the Universidade Fed - eral de Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil; Erica Plambeck of Stanford Universi - ty; and C.K. Prahalad of University of Michigan. Changes in the Boardroom What are the new rules of engagement for CEOs and the boards that oversee them in the era that comes after so many scandals and the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? More than 150 executives discussed that topic during a panel organized by Drexel Uni - versity's LeBow College of Business in Philadelphia. Moderated by Howard Fischer, CEO of Howard Fisher Interna - tional, the event featured David L. Cohen, execu- tive vice president of Comcast Corporation; Richard C. Ill, president and CEO of Triumph Group Inc.; and Eric Pillmore, senior vice president of Corporate Gover - nance for Tyco International. The event was part of an ongoing CEO forum hosted by LeBow called Inside the Boardroom. School of Entrepreneurship Launches in South Africa British tycoon Richard Branson has helped launch the Branson School of Entrepreneurship, recently opened at the Cida City Campus in Johannes burg, South Africa. According to the Johannesburg News Agency, the school will provide special- ized accredited business administration degrees to disadvantaged students. According to an article in the British Mail and Guardian, the school is a collabora- tion between Branson's Virgin Group and Cida, a private school that educates impov- erished students for very little cost. The school will be housed in a building donated by First National Bank and renamed the Nelson Mandela First National Bank Building in honor of South Africa's first black president. All Cida students will take an entrepreneurship module in their first year and may choose to enter the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in their second year. Students also may take modules on social entrepreneurship. "Being an entrepreneur is not only about making money," Branson told the Johannesburg press agency. "You can also tackle social problems with an entrepreneurial mind. No one should develop AIDS, no pregnant mother should be passing on HIV to her baby, and millions should not be dying of malaria. These are just some of the issues we will lead the school into discussing." Pillmore, part of a new regime at Tyco, said he and three other top executives report directly to the board in an arrangement for which he knew no precedent. The goal in structuring the company that way, he said, is to be able to identify within 30 days any future misdeeds like those perpetuated by Dennis Kozlowski. Panelists agreed that boards run the risk of missing business opportu- nities if they are so risk-averse that they spend all their time on gover- nance and lose sight of strategic devel- opments. Cohen said the Comcast board addresses governance issues, including Sarbanes-Oxley, at the com- mittee level to keep the board from being entirely consumed with the task. Otherwise, he warned, "you could spend 80 percent of your time talking about Sarbanes-Oxley." Ill said expectations for board members have changed. Board meet- ings that used to take three or four hours now take more than a day, and one member of his board left when it became obvious he could not dedi- cate enough time to the task, Ill said. Cohen noted that good commu- nication is key to fostering strong relations between management and boards. In a good situation, manage- ment should view the board as a strategic resource, not a hindrance, Cohen added. BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 11